TNAG-1419-FCO40-1902-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 220

JH1ACQ

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Recommendation 3

More should be done to prepare the inhabitants of Hong Kong's refugee camps for life after they are resettled,

especially through training and upgrading of skills

1.

the

The Hong Kong Government fully recognise importance of ensuring that all refugees have access to adequate educational and training facilities while they

remain in camps,

in order both to prepare them for their

new life after they have been resettled and to stimulate

their interest and reduce frustration and boredom. In

the closed camps,

education and training are provided

jointly by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

Government, with

agencies.

for

Refugees (UNHCR) and the Hong Kong

substantial assistance from voluntary

(In the open camps, education and training

are provided by the UNHCR who are responsible for administering the camp s in cooperation with voluntary

agencies. The provision of educational facilities and

programmes falls within the direct responsibility of the UNHCR's educational coordinator (see para 2 below) whose

tasks include the maintenance of adequate educational

standards in the open camp s (similar to those in the

closed camps) and the coordination of

these camp s with those provided in the

The following paragraphs therefore refer situation in the closed camps.)

2.

in

programme s

closed camps.

only to the

Provision has been made for the education and

training of children and adults in the closed camps ever

since the camps we re first established in July 1982.

However the current aim of the Hong Kong Government and UNHCR is to develop and expand present arrangements on a

coordinated basis in order to provide the s ame

form of education in each of

this task, UNHCR appointed a full time

coordinator in February 1985. They have

the camps.

basic

To assist in

educational

also agreed,